Survey says: clamor for wage hike strong

Labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno welcomed the latest survey showing 54% of Filipinos think the Aquino government should increase workers’ pay while 53% thinks it should control inflation, saying the survey shows that the clamor for increasing wages and controlling prices is strong.

The Pulse Asia survey was conducted from May 21 to June 4 using face-to-face interviews, and also showed a decline in the trust ratings for Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.

“The implication of the Pulse Asia survey is clear and unmistakeable: majority of Filipinos want a wage hike and forms of control on prices. The Filipino workers and people are showing the path they want the Aquino government to take, a path towards a significant wage hike and controls on prices,” said Elmer “Bong” Labog, KMU chairperson.

“The survey results confirm the clamor that we hear from workers and ordinary people in the companies and poor communities where we are present. Amidst the skyrocketting prices of basic goods and services, especially of oil products, workers and poor people really demand a significant wage hike and forms of control on prices,” he added.

KMU spelled out the connection between the survey results on wage hike and inflation on the one hand and the 9% drop in Pres. Aquino’s trust rating from October 2010 to May 2011 on the other.

“The president should stop inventing excuses for the drop in his trust rating and listen to what the Filipino workers and people want him to do: to increase wages and control hikes in the prices of basic goods and services. The Filipino workers and people want to hear the approval of a significant wage hike and the implementation of price controls – not propaganda efforts to beautify what has so far been the Aquino government’s anti-people moves,” Labog said.

“The survey results should be enough for Pres. Aquino to make the P125 Wage Hike Bill filed in the House of Representatives by Anakpawis Partylist Rep. Rafael V. Mariano a priority bill,” he added.

“It is clear, however, that for the Aquino government, ‘People Power’ is not a mantra for governance but merely a campaign slogan to be discarded once elected. We are therefore calling on the Filipino workers and people to make their opinions a force to reckon with by joining various forms of protests in order to assert a significant wage hike,” he said.